A Look Back at Award Season
With the 86th Academy Awards (Oscars) now in the history books— it also brought down the curtain on this year's awards season.
The big three award shows (The Oscars, Golden Globes and BAFTAs) seemingly went in the same direction with there being not much in way of difference in opinion. Across the board, Gravity was the big winner claiming 15 awards in total— most of which came in the technical categories.
dallas buyers duo ARE the perfect team
Dallas Buyers Club was the champion in the acting categories with Matthew McConaughey winning Best Actor at the Oscars, Golden Globes as well as the Screen Actors Guild Awards. The same can be said for his co-star Jared Leto who won Best Supporting Actor at the same three award shows. However, both men didn't receive nominations at the BAFTAs, which awarded Best Actor to 12 Years a Slave lead, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Best Supporting Actor to Barkhad Abdi for his debut role as a Somali pirate in Paul Greengrass' Captain Phillips.
Leonardo DiCaprio picked up the only award Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street received for his portrayal of greedy banker Jordan Belfort in the Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical category at the Golden Globes.
stellar year for blanchett
Cate Blanchett had a clean sweep at all of the award shows for her performance in Woody Allen's, Blue Jasmine. It has been a stellar year for Blanchett who is one of the finest actresses in the business today. Best Supporting Actress was awarded to Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle) at both the BAFTAs and Golden Globes but Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave) claimed the prestigious Oscar for her compelling performance in Steve McQueen's emotional drama. Amy Adams won her only award at the Golden Globes in the Best Actresses in a Comedy or Musical category for her great performance in David O. Russell's con-man caper, American Hustle.
SPIKE JONze rewarded for his imagination
Best Original Screenplay was given to Spike Jonze at the Golden Globes, Screen Writer's Guild Awards and finally the Oscars— topping off a fine year for the very imaginative writer/director. On the other side of the pond, David O. Russell and Eric Warren Singer claimed the BAFTA for their original American Hustle screenplay. Best Adapted Screenplay yo-yoed around the award shows. BAFTA gave the gong to Philomena writers Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope, while the Oscar went to John Ridley's adaptation of Solomon Northup's memoirs, 12 Years a Slave. The Screen Writer's Guild Awards gave Billy Ray his only award for his adapted Captain Phillips screenplay. Overall it was a strong year for screenwriters, and judging by results, it seemed fair for everyone to have a slice of the pie.
THE DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR
Alfonso Cuaron cleaned up all Best Director prizes during award season. His vision for the space thriller was truly unique and it is no surprise he was rewarded for his breathtaking achievements. Gravity is a mesmerising cinematic experience that pushes the limits of filmmaking and Cuaron's skills certainly brought the films vision to the forefront— relying on his experience of making highly technical pieces of work. He was a tough contender to compete against throughout award season and not many people could argue against Cuaron deserving all the awards he's been honoured with this year.
FROZEN LEAVES COMPETITORS IN THE COLD
Animated film Frozen won the Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe in the Best Animation categories. In a fairly weak year, Frozen certainly rose to the top and didn't have too much in way of competition. It has grossed huge numbers at the box office and has managed to stay in the US top 10 box office for fifteen weeks.
THE UNLUCKY ONE
Alexander Payne's quirky black-and-white tale— Nebraska, failed to win any awards throughout award season. This isn't a slight on the film but merely a reflection in the strength of competition it was up against. Nebraska featured some fine performances from veterans Bruce Dern and June Squibb— who both managed to help Nebraska to rack up a good number of nominations at all of the award shows. So Payne and co. shouldn't feel too hard done by.
12 years a slave completes best picture hat-trick
12 Years a Slave managed to win a triple header of Best Picture prizes (Oscars, Golden Globes and BAFTAs). Steve McQueen's film is an honest, heart-breaking look at one man's struggle to finally regain his freedom. It's a film that will be just as relevant and important in many years to come and is certainly worthy of being this years overall best film. On a personal note, 12 Years a Slave's Oscar win made Steve McQueen the first black director to win the Best Picture gong. It's exciting to see what McQueen does following this success. He is now one of the leading director's working today and will no doubt be high on a lot of producer's radars in the coming years.
